I must apologize, but due to the illness of my authoress, this week’s installment of “The Makings of Gideon,” didn’t make it to press this morning. Instead we offer you something a little different in honor of this season. ~Gideon

A Dark Discovery

(Unedited)

Professor John Albright and his students had been in Iraq for over a year. During this time, they had learned to dodge mortar rounds and the occasional insurgent attack, to continue with their dig. They had moved from dig site to dig in hopes to find the one myth that no one had proved did not exist-Pandora’s Box. After the Gods had imprisoned The Evils once more, it was believed they had buried in Iraq. If he could find that box, it would be his most glorious find.

“Professor Albright we’ve found something,” Megan yelled. Megan Stewart was a student of Professor for three years, his assistant for two of those. There was nothing she enjoyed more, than jumping into a pit to unearth the world’s greatest treasure. She had dedicated her life to it.

The students stood around the dig site. They had been searching and digging for six months and had found nothing until now. Professor John Albright ran over to see what the students had uncovered. He took a brush from one of them as he stepped down into the pit. The still lodged in the sandy dirt, laid a partially uncovered box. He brushed the dirt from around the box. “Oh my God.”

“Professor is it…could it be?” Megan asked.

“Help me get it out of the ground.”

Megan stepped closer to assist him with the recovery. They cleared the remaining dirt away from the box. Megan reached down and lifted the jar from the dirt. She held it with both hands and walked toward the professor. The amazement over their find held her attention in a trance, she tripped over an equipment bag which threw her off balance. She lost grip of the jar and it slipped from her fingers.

The professor rushed to catch the box before it fell to the ground. It grazed his fingertips as it crashed to the ground. The dig party stood frozen staring at the splinters of the box across the sand. The clouds overhead went black, the air turned stale, not a sound could be heard through the air. A dead silence fell over the desert. A heavy black smoke rose from where the remains of the jar rested. It surrounded the dig party, screams of pain and agony filled Professor Albright’s ears.

Megan attempted to break free from the cloud, “Professor…please help… “Blood streamed from her eyes and ears.

While the professor watched in terror as the bodies of his class members dismembered before him. He dropped to his knees, horrified by the site. “Dear God what have we done?”

He covered his eyes to hide from the gruesomeness of death that appeared displayed upon the golden desert sands. When the screams stopped, he lowered his hands from his face. In front of him the cloud at broken into seven large entities, their eyes flashed brilliant amber. One of them stepped forward.